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Framing Gender Justice a Comparative Analysis of the Media Coverage of #Metoo in Denmark and Sweden

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Framing Gender Justice a Comparative Analysis of the Media Coverage of #Metoo in Denmark and Sweden NORDICOM REVIEW Framing Gender Justice A comparative analysis of the media coverage of #metoo in Denmark and Sweden Tina AskaniusI & Jannie Møller HartleyII I School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University, Sweden II Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, Denmark Abstract This study examines the media coverage of the #metoo movement in neighbouring countries Denmark and Sweden. A comparative content analysis shows differences in genres, sources and themes across the two samples. Further, the analysis shows that the coverage predomi- nantly positioned #metoo within an individual action frame portraying sexual assault as a personal rather than societal problem in both countries. However, the individual action frame and a delegitimising frame focused on critique of #metoo were more prevalent in the Danish coverage. A framing analysis revealed four different news frames in the coverage: #metoo as (1) an online campaign connecting networked individuals, (2) part of a broader and long-standing social movement for gender justice, (3) an unnecessary campaign fuelled by cultures of political correctness and, finally, (4) a witch hunt and “kangaroo court”. Finally, we discuss and relate these findings to the political and cultural contexts of the two countries and their different historical trajectories for the institutionalisation of feminism and implementation of gender equality policies. Keywords: #metoo, gender justice, framing, Denmark, Sweden Introduction In the autumn of 2017, #metoo gained widespread attention worldwide when actress Alyssa Milano responded to allegations of sexual assaults against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein uncovered by the New York Times. To showcase the magnitude and ubiquity of sexual violence and harassment, Milano encouraged women to use the hashtag #metoo.1 This article examines how Danish and Swedish newspapers framed the debate on sexism and gender inequality spurred by the hashtag. The Nordic countries are known for gender equality and Denmark and Sweden have historically been considered to be similar on these issues. Askanius, T. & Møller Hartley, J. (2019). Framing gender justice: A comparative analysis of the media coverage of #metoo in Denmark and Sweden. Nordicom Review, 40(2): 19-36. doi:10.2478/ nor-2019-0022. 19 Unauthentifiziert | Heruntergeladen 16.09.19 13:44 UTC Tina Askanius & Jannie Møller Hartley Both in Sweden and Denmark, the hashtag and the public outcry it generated received extensive coverage in mass media and spurred considerable public debate on issues related to sexual harassment, rape culture and gendered power structures in and beyond the cultural industries. Interestingly, the scope, substance and tone of this debate dif- fered in significant ways between the two countries, just as the long-term ramifications and political aftermath of the public debate stirred by #metoo has since proven to take very different directions. In Sweden, the hashtag rapidly snowballed into a large public outcry, with street demonstrations, torchlight rallies and other protest events organised across the country, prompting journalists, politicians and other observers to call #metoo “a revolution”, “a catharsis in all institutions”, “a historic moment in Sweden” and the “largest social movement in the country since women fought to secure the right to vote”. Leading politicians, including the Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven (S), the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Margot Wallström (S), and the Minister of Culture, Alice Bah Kuhnke (MP), showed public support by participating in political meetings, panels and demonstrations. Several public figures, including leading politicians and ministers, also came forward with personal stories of assault and experiences of sexism. In March 2018, the Minister for Gender Equality, Åsa Regnér (S), received a list of demands from 65 #metoo-groups ranging from lawyers (#medvilkenrätt), musicians (#visjungerut), actors (#tystnadtagning), journalists (#deadline) and politicians (#imak- tenskorridorer) to high school students (#tystiklassen), social workers (#orosanmälan) and athletes (#timeout). Several books have been published, some focusing on personal testimonies, others debating rape culture, power and the underlying societal structures of sexual harassment. In May 2018, the affirmative consent law, recognising sex without consent as rape, was passed in parliament becoming effective from 1 July that same year.2 To a large extent, the debate continues in Sweden. In Denmark, the media coverage was much less extensive (the number of Dan- ish articles was less than a fifth of the number of Swedish articles) and public debate around #metoo took a rather different turn. In its initial phases, during October 2017, the movement was covered extensively by most news media, but political responses and voices were absent in the coverage and a backlash occurred as voices that criticised or opposed the movement started to gain a foothold and dominate the debate. In Denmark, there were fewer organised calls for action or pushes to change legislation and only a few street demonstrations, which were poorly attended. In October 2018, a year after the hashtag fuelled a global movement, an opinion poll commissioned by the public broadcaster TV2 showed that one in four Danes believed that the #metoo movement had had a negative impact on how Danes treat each other and that the majority of Danes considered the movement a joke.3 This study is driven by an imperative to understand the different trajectories #metoo took in the two countries. In two countries where the statistics on the actual level of sexual abuse and harassment look very similar, and where gender equality seems to have an equally high profile in official policy discourse, how and why did it resonate so differently? When it comes to issues of gender equality, Scandinavia is often per- ceived as a homogenous area and the so-called Scandinavian model of gender-equal welfare states is an established concept in international scholarship. Sweden and Denmark are often lumped together, under headings such as “Scandinavian struggles 20 Unauthentifiziert | Heruntergeladen 16.09.19 13:44 UTC Framing Gender Justice for gender equality” (Liinason, 2018a) “Nordic feminism” (Liinason, 2018a; weise, 1990) or “Nordic models of gender equality” (Melby et al., 2009). While they are neighbouring countries with shared histories and intertwined labour markets, fairly similar languages and very similar trajectories of liberal social democracies and wel- fare systems, the two countries have however “grown apart” in quite radical ways over the past two decades, not least when it comes to policy, political activism and public debate related to feminism and gender equality (Birgersson, 2015; Dahlerup, 2004). This cross-national comparison between seemingly similar countries provides the opportunity to give detailed attention to the nuances of similarities and differences in public debates on gender justice movements as reflected in the media coverage of #metoo in the autumn of 2017. Decades of research on the so-called protest paradigm has shown that the main- stream media’s framing of social movements matters to the creation of public support or opposition on a given matter; that dominant frames work to legitimise, delegitimise and demonise protesters/activists and the causes they struggle for (Chan & Lee, 1989; Gitlin, 2003; McLeod & Detenber, 1999). Thus, questions of how the public debate around #metoo evolves and resonates are important as the mediated public debate sets the frame for political action and potential change towards gender justice (Dahlerup, 2011). Dovetailing with these insights, we examine the following two research questions: • How was #metoo covered and framed in Danish and Swedish newspapers? • How can we understand the similarities and differences between these frames in rela- tion to the political and cultural contexts in Denmark and Sweden respectively, and the different historical trajectories of gender justice movements in the two countries? The research questions are answered in a two-step analysis. First, we present the results of a content analysis of the coverage in eight leading national newspapers both online and offline (N=879). Drawing on the results of this study, we then further elucidate the intricacies of the news frames and the similarities and differences identified between the two samples in a qualitative framing analysis (N=109). Finally, we briefly discuss the results in the light of broader historical developments related to gender equality in the two countries. Previous research and theoretical starting points Research on the dynamics between social movements, protests and their coverage by mainstream media is abundant (for an extensive review, see Mccurdy, 2012). In the context of feminist movements specifically, scholars have given evidence of the vari- ous ways in which mass media tend to erase, undermine, misrepresent or depoliticise women’s movements (Ashley & Olson, 1998; Bronstein, 2005; Van Zoonen, 1992). Some explain the largely negative or unfavourable representations of feminists and femi- nist movements with reference to a combination of patriarchal and neoliberal/capitalist structures in newsrooms (Mendes, 2011a), while others argue that mainstream news media can also play an important role in enhancing the visibility of protest events and communicating a movement’s key messages and goals, as evidenced recently during the Women’s March on Washington 2017
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